Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Holiday Cookies and a Boozy Christmas Cake

Eggless Holiday Cookies with Royal Icing

Christmas Cake

This festive season I am feeling really excited as it's going to be first Christmas at home post marriage :) we have been fully immersed in the festive spirit setting up the Christmas tree, putting up decorations around the house, lots of shopping (of-course), painting Christmas greetings and mailing them so they reach in time and cooking up Christmas treats just to reward all our hardwork :)

Christmas Tree @ Home

Christmas Greetings

It all started with the Carrot cake from last post and I did endeavor to bake the chocolate beetroot cake as well (will post the recipe soon). For Christmas, made butter cookies with royal icing and a traditional christmas cake with goodness of brandy and spices :)

Wish all of you a happy holidays and a New Year filled with prosperity and success!

Combine butter and sugar in a bowl, and mix until it gets lighter and fluffier.

Add vanilla and milk to butter/sugar mixture

Combine salt, flour and baking powder in a separate bowl

Combine the dry and wet ingredients, using either a spatula or your hands, to form a smooth dough

Place the dough between 2 sheets of butter paper and roll it out using a rolling pin to 0.5cm thickness and cut out desired shapes using cookie cutter. Or you can also pipe out the dough using the star nozzle. ( I made the cookies both ways)

Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with butter paper and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the sides turn golden brown

Allow the cookies to cool on baking tray for ten minutes before transferring them to wire rack

Decorating with Royal Icing

In a bowl sift the icing sugar to remove any lumps and then add milk, lemon juice and glycerin to form a thick but smooth paste

Divide the paste into as many equal portions as the desired number of colors and put them into piping cones. Cut the tip slightly of the piping cones, open your heart and give way to all your creative juices and start decorating these fun to make holiday cookies

In a large glass jar, combine the candied cherries, orange peel, raisins, nuts, apricot and dates. Add the brandy or rum and cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least at least 2 weeks (stirring periodically). This will allow all the nuts and peels to soak the liquor.

Baking the cake

Before you start baking, grease 2 loaf pans or one 9 inches round springform pan with butter and line with parchment paper so that the cakes are easy to remove once baked

Reposition the oven rack to the middle and preheat the oven to 135 degrees Celsius

Toss the fruits and nuts with 1/2 cup of the flour and keep aside. This will prevent the nuts from settling down at the bottom of the cake

In a bowl, cream the butter with the grounded sugar on low-med speed until light and fluffy - this should take about 2 minutes. Add the demera sugar and mix until combined.

Beat in the eggs one at a time followed by vanilla extract

Sieve together remaining flour, baking soda and spices and add it to the egg and butter batter and mix thoroughly on low speed

Add in the fruit-tossed in flour to the batter and give a nice gentle mix using a spatula

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Do a toothpick test, if it comes out clean, the cake is done

Let the cakes cool for 30 minutes in the pan, and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling

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About Me

The WHO: Hi, I’m Smita and welcome to Gourmet Post. I am a banker and I love to cook and bake.Born and brought up in “Pink-City” – Jaipur, I am currently residing in Bangalore for past two and a half years. Cooking is fun and it started as a kid when I used to stand alongside my mom and my aunt learning to make a simple sandwich for tiffin, a glass of cold coffee in the evenings to preparing Indian curries and occasional continental dishes as I grew up. Baking was a rare affair at home but that didn’t dampen the spirit, all I needed was some inspiration. My first cook book came to my rescue and there was no looking back.

The WHY: Banking is challenging and exciting field, but cooking is different. Every time I am experimenting with recipes in my kitchen I find myself infused with a relaxed rush of energy and enthusiasm (even if its making "Paneer Paranthas"or batch of muffins at twelve in the night). On days when I get free early from work, I can be spotted in my apron mixing together a cake or baking cookies to accompany a hot cup of chai or making pasta or a simple Indian meal with Dal tadka, seasonal vegetable and rotis for dinner. And at end of this, I am always smiling like this :D.

The INSPIRATION: Joy of cooking to me is like an end-to-end process, beginning with maneuvering with ingredients to laying the food on the plate and sharing it with my family and my friends who are my biggest motivators and critics. They are very candid in their comments. Its amazing when I make something and they tell me that’s the best they have eaten or when they ask me if I can make this, inspiring me to try a new dish.

With this blog, I want get more organized with all the gourmet attemptsand take my love for cooking a step further and may be drop the “N” of the Banker some day.

I would love to hear from you. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please drop me an email on thegourmetpost@gmail.com